Dust boot assemblies are commonly employed in vehicle suspension systems to protectively seal ball joint assemblies in components such as tie rod ends. The dust boot assembly both retains lubricant, including grease, within the ball joint, and prevents contamination of the ball joint by shielding it from road dirt and other contaminants. The boot assemblies are retained on a mating component such as a tie rod by a retainer ring. The retainer ring is disposed at a base of the boot and defines an opening to a cavity of the boot thereat. The retainer rings are often partially or completely encased by the rubber boot. The retainer ring also commonly has a plurality of fingers or tabs extending radially inwardly which are adapted to engage a housing surface of the tie rod. A diameter formed by ends of the fingers is smaller than a diameter of the housing engaged by the fingers. The fingers deflect outward in response to the boot being pushed down over the housing. Resultant engagement between the fingers and the housing produce a braking action resisting removal of the boot from the tie rod end. Installation of boots on the tie rod end requires a sufficiently high axial force or push down load to produce the desired engagement with the housing.
The push down load has been known to damage the dust boot during installation. In some circumstances, the elastomeric boot portion separates from the retainer ring.
In short, known retainer ring designs require high installation loads for boots, potentially resulting in the boot being compromised during installation.